Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Earle Combs all played center for Yankees teams that won the World Series, as did Mickey Rivers, Bobby Murcer, and Bernie Williams. Damon said he was well aware of that.

"The best players who ever put on a major-league uniform were centerfielders for the New York Yankees," said Damon, who began playing for the team in 2006. "And, obviously, when I came here, I knew I was going to get that shot."

Damon lasted one season as the everyday centerfielder before he was moved to left because of his declining defensive abilities. Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner took over, with Cabrera earning the majority of playing time.

This season, center field was the least productive position for the Yankees. Their centerfielders hit 12 home runs and drove in 78 runs. The .739 OPS by centerfielders - on-base percentage plus slugging percentage - ranked eighth in the American League.

That's a far cry from the days of DiMaggio, Mantle and Williams, but hasn't prevented the Yankees from competing for another title.

"Some of the guys in the lineup, it makes you feel like it doesn't really matter who's out there," Gardner said. "Sometimes I'll play the whole game out there and won't even get a ball hit to me. I might go 0-fer and we still score 15 runs. It's a lot of fun."

The last time the Yankees won a World Series without a star patrolling center field was in 1943. DiMaggio enlisted in the Army for World War II, and three players - Roy Weatherly, Johnny Lindell, and Tuck Stainback - split time in center.

As Williams aged, the Yankees had a chance to obtain another big-name centerfielder in 2005.

The off-season before acquiring Damon, the Yankees passed on a chance to sign Carlos Beltran, who was coming off one of the greatest postseason performances of all time, with the Houston Astros. Instead, the Yankees devoted their resources to signing 41-year-old lefthander Randy Johnson, recently acquired in a trade, to a two-year, $57-million contract.

Johnson won 34 games in two seasons for the Yankees, but the team never advanced past the division series. Beltran signed a seven-year, $119-million deal with the crosstown Mets.

After Damon was moved from center before the 2007 season, Cabrera stepped in as a 22-year-old second-year player and had a productive year before a disappointing 2008.

Gardner, a speedy spark plug and talented defender, won the center-field job out of spring training this season. But before May began, Cabrera and Gardner were in a platoon. Eventually, Cabrera won the lion's share of playing time.

In the American League Championship Series, against the Los Angeles Angels, Cabrera was 9 for 23 with three runs scored and four driven in.

"We'll take as much production as we can get," Damon said. "Melky gave us everything we needed in that series against Anaheim. I know there's been great centerfielders in the past with big home-run numbers, but what Melky Cabrera did for us in that series, he very well could have been the MVP."